Track a family affair for the Bookers’

By Chris Miller-Prep Sports Writer

Published: Wednesday, May 8, 2013 at 11:30 AM.

“It does (bring the family together) because we always have something to talk about. It’s cool, but it’s also pressure on us,” she said. “We have a reputation to uphold. Everyone knows at least one Booker.”

And McKayla and Mercedes know of the success their father and grandfather had back in the day for Jacksonville.

While the two McGrue’s are in the history books at Jacksonville High, the two girls are trying to make a name for themselves for KIPP Pride. Still, McKayla said she wouldn’t mind one day sporting a JHS uniform and running for the Cardinals’ track team. The Jacksonville girls won a state title in 2008.

“I think it would be cool to run at least once…,” McKayla said. “It’s history in my family.”

At 62-years-old, McGrue Booker, Sr., is still a track runner at heart and someone who holds dearly his memories of the good old days when he smoked the competition as a Jacksonville High School standout sprinter.

His son, 43-year-old McGrue Booker, Jr., is also a former Jacksonville track standout who doesn’t mind letting his old man know who was actually the faster of the two during their prime.

“He was no good,” the younger Booker said with a laugh during an interview at this past weekend’s NCHSAA East Regional 1-A track meet aboard Camp Lejeune. “He was not faster than me. He was never faster than me.”

The two Bookers don’t mind going back and forth these days regarding the topic of speed.

Both can lay claim to being the best.

As a junior, the elder Booker helped Jacksonville to the 1968 state track championship. He also won the state crown in the 200-meter dash, broke the state mark in the 100-yard dash at 9.8 seconds and helped the Cardinals’ 4x200 relay team to a state title during his tenure at Jacksonville.

Meanwhile, the younger Booker helped his 4x400 relay team win a state crown in 1988 as a senior along with second-place finish in the 4x200. He also was second himself in the 200.

But while the thoughts of their glory days are still very much alive for the two Bookers, even more important are the memories they are building now by watching the two latest in their family continue the Booker legacy of fast trackers.

Both were on hand Saturday at Lejeune High to watch McKayla Booker and Mercedes Booker in the NCHSAA 1-A East Regional championships. Both runners, who are the younger Booker’s daughters, performed well for KIPP Pride High of Gaston.

Mercedes, a 17-year-old junior, finished fourth in the 400 to qualify for the state championships. McKayla, a 13-year-old freshman, won the 300 hurdles. Both also helped Kipp Pride’s 4x400 relay team to second place.

“We are all fast,” McGrue Jr., said. “We are a track family. It’s all starts out by someone running to the store or running down the street to see who is the fastest. It’s something everyone can do. It’s a family thing and something we’ve been doing for a long time.”

And McGrue, Sr. has always envisioned his family continuing to be standout track athletes.

“My intention was to have an article in the paper that says, ‘Like father, like son.’ Then it was going to be, ‘Like father, like son, like grandson,’” the elder Booker said. “But he didn’t have no sons. We got granddaughters.”

But that’s OK with grandpa. He knows the latest edition of the racing Bookers are making him proud by continuing the family trade.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said. “We just wanted them to do what they wanted to do.”

Two other Booker girls have ran track in recent years, including 20-year-old Icess, who was a regional champion last year in the 100 and second in the 200 while running for North Carolina-Pembroke. The other was 19-year-old Bryanna, who also ran in high school.

And when he is not watching Mercedes and McKayla, McGrue Sr. runs the Booker Track Express, a junior Olympic team in Gaston.

McGrue, Jr. is the coach of KIPP Pride’s girls’ team.

“I think they push us hard. They expect us to continue their legacy,” Mercedes said. “When I’m running and warming up, I can hear them say, ‘Come on you need to do this.’

“We practice very hard. I practiced for someone else for a little bit and this practice was nowhere near as difficult. They just push us more. Granddad is more talkative and playful, but he will get his point across. My father is more of a ‘You need to do this.’”

And what does McKayla think of being a runner with the Booker name?

“It does (bring the family together) because we always have something to talk about. It’s cool, but it’s also pressure on us,” she said. “We have a reputation to uphold. Everyone knows at least one Booker.”

And McKayla and Mercedes know of the success their father and grandfather had back in the day for Jacksonville.

While the two McGrue’s are in the history books at Jacksonville High, the two girls are trying to make a name for themselves for KIPP Pride. Still, McKayla said she wouldn’t mind one day sporting a JHS uniform and running for the Cardinals’ track team. The Jacksonville girls won a state title in 2008.

“I think it would be cool to run at least once…,” McKayla said. “It’s history in my family.”